I told myself on Friday, as the earnings came out that the media would fixate on this. It took all of two hours after the market opened. Same old arguments. When is the next elephant purchase? Why not a dividend? All questions have been answered in the annual report or at the AGM.

One thing is certain, few other companies have this kind of a problem! Life at BRK moves at a different pace than the headline.

While Buffett has said that low yields made him avoid bonds, not even stocks have tempted him much this year. The filing showed that Berkshire spent $2.05 billion on equities in the first half, about a third of the total from a year earlier. Its sales of stock more than doubled to $2.96 billion.